TAMPA — Leave it to Mariano Rivera to get to the heart of the matter. He still has his cutter.

The greatest closer of them all saw David Robertson at the BBWAA dinner in New York recently.

“The first thing he says is, ‘Are you scared?,’ ” Robertson said Tuesday after working out at the Yankees minor league complex.

“And I’m like, ‘No.’ That’s typical Mo, he is all over my case all ready,” Robertson explained with a smile. “I haven’t even thrown a pitch yet in 2014, and he’s on me. He knows I can do it, and I think I know I can do it. It’s just a matter of actually stepping out there and doing it.”

Robertson jokingly told Rivera,”‘You are going to be driving over the clubhouse to wear me out after my first blown one and he said, ‘You know it.’ I’m like, ‘Great, I’m getting pointers from the best in the world when he is not even playing.”’

“I feel good,” Robertson added. “Last year at the end of the season, I was worn down. I had a lot of appearances and a lot of back-to-back days. It was just a tough season.”

Everything feels new this year, though.

“New signings, new players — could be like 2009 again,” Robertson said with a smile of the Yankees’ last world championship season. “It feels good. We’re going to have pretty much a new team this year. New additions bring life to a team, to a clubhouse. That could be something that turns our season around.”

“I got a few texts after that came out, and that’s great, but it’s still not mine yet,” Robertson said. “There’s still a lot of time between now and the season.”

Robertson’s mindset is he is not going to be handed the job, he is going to earn the closer’s role.

“Throwing the eighth or ninth inning is the same deal, you have to get three outs and you can’t give up the lead,” the right-hander said. “In my eyes, I am not going to try and over-think the whole situation. If I get the job at the end of spring, I’m going to do everything I can to hold it and help us win ballgames. I just have to throw strike one and strike two and get outs.”